National Republican., 1887-03-07
The Political Status of the District.

The word territory has two distinct mean
irgs, the broadest Of them being that it is
tract of land within certain distinct limits,
the other being that which is used in the
laws Of the United States and applied to
certain defined portions of land within its
territorial limits, and Webster defines the
word used in the latter sense as follows:
"A portion of the country not included
within the limits Of any state, and not get
Gdnlittcd as state IN the Jnion."
OF course the District of Columbia is "a
territory" in the broader sense OF the word,
80 is the United States, because each is a
body Of lBnd with certain defined limits,
ana in that sense the term has been applied
TO the District as 1t has been to every king
dom, empire, or state that ever existed.
and equally, Of course, 1t is not aud can
rot be a territory in the political or law
making sense, as is proven by the deflni-
ton from Webster, it can never be sad
mitted as state in the Union" And in
this connection 1t must be remembered
that the Supreme Court always gives words
the ordinary Interpretation, and relies upon
Webster and Worcester as authorities for
what that Interpretation is.
The act Of July lG, 1890, which provided
for the establishment of a permanent seat
OF government on the Potomac river United
States Statutes at Large, V. /, p. 1907, after
providing for the survey says: "And the
district so defined, limited, and located,
shall be deemed the district accepted by
this actn A subsequent section says: "The
seat Of government shall be transferred to
the district and place aforesaid" The
proclamation issued by Washington Jan.
"a, 1901, accepting the survey and transfer
speaks of II as "the district.n If Congress
aud Washington had intended or supposed
that the future seat of government was to
he political territory they would have
called it so, and not given 1t name with a
different and distinct significance.
Nor has the Supreme Court made any
decision which could be construed into a
precedent for chasing the District OF Col.
UMl ia with the territories. In the case of
Tie Bank Of Alexandria va. Dyer, decided
in lssO, the court said, speaking OF the
counties Of Alexandria and Washington /:
"'rhey have been formed by Congress into
q separate political community" some
ont finding in the syllabus Of this case the
expressiCa "Such is now the condition OF
the countits OF Washington and AleXan-
dria, which together constitute the terri
tory Of Columbia" quoted this as the de-
oisitn Of the court, When II is merely a re-
poIttT's index OF the decision, often in.
correctly made, as In this case.
Cicero defines state TO be "a multitude
Of people united by a communion Of inter
est and by common laws" and BurlamaquI,
the great French writer upon international
law, uses almost the same language, so that
the District OF Columbia, in the broad sense
of the terms, is both state and a territory,
but the Supreme Court of the United States
has decided that IL is not "a state" within
the meaning OF that term as used in the ar.
ticle OF the constitution defining the judi
cial power Of the United States. The same
Courthas alec decided that "a territory" Is